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Is Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) going to take off soon? The best stock pickers are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions rose by 5 in recent months.

In the financial world, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. There are a number of motivations for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action regarding Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN).

What have hedge funds been doing with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 31 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 19% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, holds the biggest position in Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN). Viking Global has a $871.9 million position in the stock, comprising 5.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $77.4 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP and Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Healthcor Management LP, managed by Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey, initiated the largest position in Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN). Healthcor Management LP had 46.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Eric Chen’s Antipodean Advisors also made a $28.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ALXN positions are Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).